Counting down to Valentine’s Day, more Valentine’s crafts sharing in Craft Passion!!! I am so excited to make a round up 20 sewing Valentine projects I picked and pinned in Pinterest.

1. Valentine Throw Pillow at U-Create.
2. Quilted Valentine Hearts Pillow at Craft Sew Create.
3. Gathered Heart Pillow at V and Co.
4. Chenille Heart Pillow at Craft Passion.
5. Cross My Heart Pillow at The Polkadot Chair.
6. Chocolate Heart Pillow at Sew 4 Home.
7. Ring Bearer Pillow at Craft Passion.
8. Valentine Voodoo Pincushion at Indie Spotting.
9. Love Sachets at Moorea Seal.
10. Heart Felt Cookies at Ikat Bag.
11. Shaggy Heart Dress With Knee Pad at Make It And Love It.
12. Ruffled Heart Valentine Dress at Make It And Love It.
13. Ruffly Heart Shirt at Craftiness Is Not Optional.
14. Happy Heart Skirt at Infarrantly Creative.
15. Scented Heart Sachet at Craft Passion.
16. Heart Shaped Zippered Pouches at Purl Bee.
17. Heart Gift Bag at Momtastic.
18. Macaron Coin Purse at Craft Passion.
19. Felt Heart Bookmark at Simple Serendipities.
20. Heart Note Book Cover at Craft Passion.

If you haven’t set up an account with Pinterest, please add one soon, I am sure you will love this site as you are able to pin your favorites in an organized way. Please feel free to follow me at Pinterest.

Watch out for other valentine’s crafts coming soon.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

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Crochet Turkey Coasters And Ornament

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I was inspired by a flower potholder found in Pinterest to come up with this turkey coaster crochet pattern. Using some fall color yarns to crochet the base of the turkey, then outline it to give it a magical touch. The outlining and detailing on the tails really make the different and brighten-up the whole crochet piece. If you wish to turn the turkey to peacock, just use change the yarn colors to green, light blue, dark blue, black and brown.

Wish you all Happy Thanksgiving…. say “Thank you” in any language you know!!! 谢谢 (Chinese), terima kasih (Malay), arigato (Japanese), kamsamnida (Korean), doa jeh (Cantonese Dialect), kamsia (Hokkien Dialect)….

Crochet Pattern: Turkey Coasters And Ornaments

Pattern adapted from Jennifer Martin’s pattern in Ravelry after being inspired by 178/365 Flower Potholder.

Dimension:
Finished size: Approximate 6 1/2″ (W) x 5 1/2″ (H)
Gauge: not important as long as the yarn label said it is suitable for 2.5mm to 3.5mm hook.

Materials & Tools:
1. Yarn, acrylic baby yarn, 5 – 6 colors.
2. Crochet hook, 3mm
3. Felt – White, Black and Red
4. Sewing thread – White, Black and Red
5. Sewing needle
6. Scissors

Abbreviations:
sl knot = slip knot
st = stitch
slst = slip stitch (to fasten)
ch = chain
sc = single crochet
dc = double crochet
fo = fasten off
Rnd = round

Crochet Pattern:

Work on right side only, unless stated otherwise.
FRONT
Body
sl knot on hook to begin.
Rnd 1 – ch 4, 14dc into 1st ch, slst to the 4th ch at the beginning rnd. This will give you a total 15 sts in a rnd, counting the 3chs at the beginning rnd as the first 1 dc stitch. (15 sts)
Rnd 2 – ch 3, dc in same st, 2dc in each st around. slst to the 3rd ch at the beginning rnd. fo. (30 sts)
Rnd 3 – New color: ch3, *2dc in next st, dc in next st, repeat * around. slst to the 3rd ch at the beginning round. fo. (45 sts)
Rnd 4 – New color: ch1, sc around. fo. (45 sts)
Tail
Row 1 – New color: ch3, dc in same st, ch1, 2dc in same st, *skip 2 sts, (2dc, ch1, 2dc) in next st, repeat * until you have made 10 sets. fo.
Row 2 – New color: start at the ch1 space of previous row, ch3, dc in same space, ch1, 2dc in same space, *(2dc, ch1, 2dc) in next ch1 space, repeat * until you reach to the end. fo.
Row 3 – New color: start at the ch1 space of previous row, ch3, 2dc in same space, ch1, 3dc in same space, *(3dc, ch1, 3dc) in next ch1 space, repeat * until you reach to the end. fo.
Row 4 – New color: start at the ch1 space of previous row, ch3, 5dc in same space, *6dc in next ch1 space, repeat * until you reach to the end. fo.

BACK
Follow the front pattern with 1 color only.
When making the tail, you can either follow the front pattern by working on right side only, that is fo at every rnd and start at the first ch1 space of previous rnd.
Or,
Turn your piece to the other side to work without have to fo at each rnd. Make 2 to 3 slst at the beginning of each rnd to get to the ch1 space before beginning the first ch3 for the new rnd. Don’t fo and continue with the next step by joining the front and back pieces up.
Hook Loop: Make a loop at the middle of the tail with ch 10 and slst to the last sc.
Weave in all ends to neaten both front and back pieces.

Joining Front & Back
(Sew facial assemblies on the front before joining the front and back piece. Detail on sewing, please read further down.)

The tail outlining and detailing are made while joining both front and back pieces. All stitches must go through both pieces for joining up.

Place the front piece on top of the back piece, with wrong side facing each other. Line up edges.

Side edge of the tail: *1sc (at the corner to the tail and go through both layers), ch 1, repeat * until you reach the body.
Body & feet: sc in next 7 sts, [make foot: ch 2, *ch 2, sc on 2nd ch from hook, slst to 2nd next ch, repeat * 3 times, sc on next st, sc in the same st of last sc before making foot], sc in next 4 sts, repeat make foot, sc in next 6 sts.
Side edge of the tail: *ch 1, 1sc, repeat * until you reach the corner of the tail
Tail outline and joining:
* sc in next 7 sts. sc in between the 2 shells.
Ch 1, sc around the row below (in between the same 2 shells you just did, only on row 7).
Ch 1, sc around row 6.
Ch 1, sc around row 5 (there are 2 skipped sts available, 1 sc into the closest one, ch 1, then sc into the other).
Ch 1, sc around row 6.
Ch 1, sc around row 7.
Ch 1, sc around row 8.

Facial Assembly: Do this before joining the front and back piece.
1. Cut 2 pcs. of 3/4″ diameter of white felts, 2pcs. of 1/2″ diameter of black felts, 3/4″ red beak and 1 1/4″ long snood.
2. Sew on the front of the turkey with respective color thread.

Get ready some fall color yarns, for example shades of brown, orange, yellow, grey and white.
Cut eyes, beak and snood from felt.

Plan the color combo and arrangement or refer to above photos for suggestion.
Slip knot on crochet hook, crochet 4 chains.

Follow crochet pattern above (rnd 1 to rnd 4) to make the turkey body.

Begin to crochet turkey tail by making 10 sets of “2dc,ch1,2dc” for row 1.
Always begin each row from right hand side with right side facing you.

Follow crochet pattern above (row 1 to row 4) to make the turkey tail.

Once the front is done, weave in all ends to neaten.
Sew facial of turkey to the body.

Crochet the back with single color yarn by repeating the front pattern, except that you can choose to either follow exactly, or, turn your piece as you work on the the tail.
Make a 10 chains hook loop at the middle of the last row.

Place the front piece on top of the back piece, with wrong side facing each other. Line up edges.
Crochet along the edge towards the body. Stitches must go through both layers.
Crochet feet.
Crochet towards the turkey tail.

Single crochet 7 stitches on the shell and 1 stitch between the 2 shells.

Crochet 1 chain, then single crochet again between 2 shell on the following row.

Repeat the stitches until you get to the bottom.

Single crochet in the first skip stitches of round 5, chain 1, single crochet on the second skip stitch.
Go up to the top again.

Continue to crochet by repeating the stitches for the rest of the tail details.

Slip stitch and fastern off the yarn when you reach the first stitch of the joining process.
Weave in the end.
Done!

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Sewing Safety Sign Triangle Pillow

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Material:
1. 14″ triangle pillow insert, I used Novelty Triangle Pillow Form from Downlite.
2. 40″ x 15″ Plain Yellow fabric
3. 10″ x 48″ Black felt or faux suede
4. Zipper (Yellow) – at least 14″
5. Cord ¼” dia (Black) – 3 yards
6. Yellow & Black sewing thread

Tools:
1. Sewing Machine
2. Zipper foot
3. Pins & needles
4. Scissors
5. Tracing wheel & carbon
6. Fabric marker or chalk

Download the 5 pages pdf pattern and print them out without scaling the printing, otherwise the size won’t be correct.
Enlarge the first page to 200%.
Cut the patterns out.
{If you can’t download the pdf pattern, probably you don’t have acrobat reader, download the latest version for free here.}

Use the cut-out holes of page 2-5 to trace the 4 safety signs. {I found that it is easier to use the cut-out hole to trace than the cut-out piece}.
If you are tracing on the wrong side of the black felt of faux suede, remember to flip the “High Voltage” pattern to the wrong side too.
Cut the signs out.
{Trace the signs as close to each other as possible to lessen fabric waste. Reserve 3″ x 48″ for piping strips.}
Cut 4 pieces of yellow triangle fabrics with at least ½” seam allowance.
Use tracing wheel and carbon to mark the sewing lines.
Draw a zipper line ½” above and parallel to the base of one of the triangles for zipper installation.
Cut 2 strips of 1½ ” x 48″ for piping installation.

Position the safety signs on the triangles. Pin to secure or you can use some tacky glue to temporary hold them in place. If you prefer fusible web, go ahead but make sure your fabric is able to take the heat. Mine can’t, so I did it the “ancient” way of applique.
Zig-zag sew the edges with black sewing thread of your own stitch spacing preference.
Remove pins.
Encase the cord into the piping strips. Start from the center of the triangle base, lay the piping cord on the sewing lines of the right side of the triangles.
Snip the strip at the corner so that it can bend smoothly.
Allow some allowances on the ends.

Overlap the ends and mark the strips for joining position.
Pin and sew to join. Trim away excess ends by leaving a ½” seam allowance.
Cut away excess cord. Burn the ends lightly to stop the fraying.
Sew the ends together to join it up.
Change to zipper foot to sew the piping to the triangle. Remove pin as you sew.
A triangle with the piping around it. Only 1 triangle needs full piping.
Refer the image below for the arrangement.
Install piping as per red line:
1. Left triangle – pipe on 2 edges only.
2. Right triangle – pipe on the base only.
3. Bottom triangle – No piping needed, install zipper instead.
To install the zipper, fold and press one of the sewing line on the triangle. Align the zipper with the center line along ¼” from the fold edge, baste or pin the zipper under it, top-stitch on the zipper line. Sew the other side of the zipper to the base of the top triangle.
Sew and join all triangles to form a triangle pillow case.
Hand sew the ends of the odd piping ends to the corners of the main triangle.
A complete triangle safety sign pillow case without the insert.
This is the Downlite 14″ Triangle Pillow Form. {Love it!!!}
· Made In America
· Hypoallergenic Down & Feather Blend
· 3 Shapes (Cubes, Spheres & Triangles)
· 3 Sizes (12”, 14” & 16”)
Insert the pillow into the casing from the zipper opening.
There you are – a Triangle Safety Sign Throw Pillow for your home decor.

Either in-person or via the web, it is my pleasure to have met many handicraft hobbyists that generously share among their works and creativity. I am glad to have this site that bring us closer to each other. It is you, dear readers that shared your ingenious ideas to me to develop and create more. It is you that modified some of my patterns to let them have a different look and I really appreciate your inputs. And, I am also delighted that some of you even shared your know how and tutorial of your beautiful craft here in Craft Passion.

(p/s: Submit yours if you have a fabulous tutorial to share.)

I get to know Brenda via Craft Passion Facebook Fan Page, the moment I saw her posted up her photo of the Linking Hearts ring bearer pillow, I fell in love immediately. I wrote to her to ask if she would like to share the tutorial in Craft Passion; to my wishful thinking, she agreed!!! This is how I get to know Brenda….. not knowing that she is also a friend of my secondary school classmate, what a small world!

Let’s get the tutorial on how to hand sew this divine ring bearer pillow. Be it for your own wedding or your friends or your relatives wedding, it sure vows the marriage with happiness.

Tutor: Brenda
Personal Blog: Pepperratzies

On the very special day of every girl’s life, the wedding day, a lot of time and effort are spent to ensure that their dream wedding can unfold right in front of their eyes. Almost every girl would have their wedding day painted with lots of flowers and romantic setting, to mark the end of their single-hood and a celebration to a life of couple-hood.

The ring pillow holds the wedding ring that symbolizes the unity and love of the couple. Making your own ring pillow can be simple and unique as the embellishment that you choose can be something dear to you, something old, something blue or something new.

The design of this ring pillow holds special meaning with the 2 hearts intertwined with chained stitch which brings the meaning of hearts chained together with love.

In this hands on, I used very simple ingredients. The design that I made is called ‘The linking hearts’ for the couple whose hearts are inter-twined.
You will need:
• 2 pieces of 15×15 cm felt cloth
• 2 embellishment of your heart desire
• Satin ribbons
• Needle and thread

First, design your ring pillow. Place the items that you choose into positions that you like until you get the perfect vision. Then you draw out the ‘chain’ that is to link from 1 heart to the other.
Next, the stitches that I used is Chain Stitch, which is also to symbolize the chain for the 2 hearts.
I then place the 2 heart embellishment on top of each end of the chain and stitch them onto the felt cloth.
Once the hearts are on, I chose 2 types of ribbons, a printed one and a satin ribbon to hold the rings. Right on top of the ribbon, I stitched a flower button each to make them prettier. I love buttons in my crafts, so I tried to use them as often as I can.
Once all the items are stitched firmly, join the 2 pieces of felt cloth and use Blanket Stitch to close up the sides. Do not close up the entire 4 sides as you will need to leave a hole for you to stuff Polyfill in. Fill the pillow with Polyfill or cotton, if you like. Finally, close up the ring pillow and Voila!! You will have your very own ring pillow.

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Make a Snowman ornament from polyfoam balls

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10 days to go… I am counting down for the Christmas and singing this all day long ~~ ♥ I’m dreaming of a white Christmas, Just like the ones I….. ♥ ~~~ The Christmas spirit is getting higher each and everyday and I am still making Christmas Craft to add into my Christmas decorations. This time it is a snowman where I was inspired by this one which I saw in Singapore.

There is no white Christmas in Malaysia, in reality, I can’t build snowman provided I travel few thousand miles northbound. Well, to quench my thirst for having snow for Christmas, I made a polyfoam snowman instead.

This is a quick craft and it is suitable for kids with a little help and guidance from adult. Let’s get the how-to after this jump….

Finished dimension: Approx. 3 1/4″ (H) x 2″ (W)

Materials:
1. Polyfoam or polystyrene or Styrofoam ball – approx dia. 1″
2. Polyfoam or polystyrene or Styrofoam ball – approx dia. 2″
3. Red felt
4. White yarn
5. Beads, sequins and/or button for embellishment
6. Pearl white glitters

Tools:
1. Scissor
2. Craft Knife
3. Craft glue
4. Hot glue gun
5. Small brush
6. Floral wire
7. Pencil or pen
8. Clothes clip (optional) if you want to bend the hat.
9. Pointy tweezers.

Pre-heat your hot glue gun so that it is ready when you need to use it.
To make the snowman stand-able, cut a small portion from the 2″ polyfoam with craft knife to create a flat base.
If your kids are too small to handle the cutting, please help them to do it.
Place the small polyfoam ball on the top of the base ball, find the correct position so that they are straight, mark.
With help from adult, apply a dot of hot glue on the marking and quickly attach the small ball onto it, hold a few second till the glue is set.
Insert a floral wire into the polyfoam ball assembly, preferably into the head of the snowman.
Brush a layer of craft glue and sprinkle the pearl white glitter to all over snowman except the base.
Set aside for the glue to dry.
While waiting for the glue to dry and glitter to set, prepare the red felt for scarf and hat.
Cut half circle of 3″ diameter for hat and 6″ x 1/2″ for scarf.
I also glittered a 1/4″ bead for the hat.

When the snowman is about half dry (best is to wait till it is completely dry, time needed depends on the viscosity of the craft glue you use), carefully roll the 1/2 circle (with curve side down) onto the head of the snowman, measure the hat size. Mark on the felt.
Apply glue on the overlapping area.

Overlap the 1/2 circle to make a cone hat for the snowman. Set a side for it to dry or at least until it gets tacky.
Apply glue on the internal edge of the hat and glue the hat to the snowman’s head.

Next, glue the white yarn on the edge of the hat.
If you want to bend the hat, apply glue at the back of the hat, around the center of the height. Bend the hat and secure it’s position with a clothes clip (as shown in the next picture).
Glue all the facial features and embellishments to the snowman with craft glue.
Glue the glittered 1/4″ bead to the tip of the hat with hot glue.
Tweezers are handy when handling all these small parts, but be careful when kids are involving.
Carefully roll the scarf onto the neck of the snowman. Twist the scarf a little so that it fits better on the snowman.
Apply glue to secure it.
Set aside overnight to let it dry completely.
~~DONE~~~

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Halloween: Pumpkin Tutu Costume {Tutorial}

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1. 10 yards of orange tulle or can-can netting, cut about 6″ wide (left) and keep the balance (right) if it has more than 3″ wide.
2. 1″ wide elastic band, about 3″- 4″ shorter than the intended wearer chest, sew ends together. The elastic will expand after being fully tied up with tulle strips.
3. 12″ x 12″ black felt or faux black velvet
4. Green Satin Ribbon of about 15 yards (1 roll)
5. some 1/4″ orange ribbon for decoration (optional)
6. some maple leaves for decoration (optional)
Cut tulle to about 1 yard length or shorter for younger toddler.
Fold the 1 yard tulle into shorter length, cut away the selvage. Cut about 6″ wide/strip, you can use scissor to cut but roller cutter make things faster. The strips don’t have to be very straight and precised since one can hardly notice the unevenness when put together . If you have more than 3″ left at the end, don’t waste them, you can tie them in between those 6″ strips, again, no one will notice the different strip width.
Fold your tulle strip into half, place it in front of the elastic band with the ends facing upward.
Bring the ends down and behind the elastic band, insert into the loop and come out to the front.
Pull and tighten the tulle in place as shown in the picture.
Repeat the steps until you get all the tulles tie on the elastic band. Slot the smaller left-over strips in between if you have.

Start crossing the green satin ribbon on the elastic band about 1 yard from the end. You might want to secure the first round with safety pin if you find that the ribbon is slippery.
Continue rolling and winding the ribbons on the band and fully cover-up the orange tulle. Cross the ribbon again when you’ve completed a round. Sew a few stitches to both the start and finish crossing to further secure the ribbon windings if needed.
Cut ribbon at 1 yard away.

Sketch your favorite pumpkin face (Google search “pumpkin face” and you will find tons of them) and cut them out from the black felt or faux velvet.
Spread the tulle strips at the face area as wide as possible to prevent face from being plaited between the folds.
Pin the face onto the pumpkin tutu, catch a few layers of tulle and sew around with black thread.

Lastly, embellish some orange ribbons and maple leaves on it to give more autumn look.
~~~DONE~~~
Off to “Trick And Treating” with brother who is wearing his skeleton costume and with their favorite sock skeletons that mama sewed!!!!

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Sew Skeleton Couples With White Socks

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I think this is the most spooky cute handmade I have ever made … ha ha ha… Even I feel eerie watching them sitting there…. Welcome the Mr. & Mrs Skeleton!!! [More pictures in the gallery] Let them startle your guests when they come for trick or treating!!! You might be interested to make the pumpkin and the spider from pom pom as well and set them up in a corner of your door step, and

Boooooooooooooo!!!

I was searching for Halloween decoration ideas when I stumbled upon Martha Stewart website and found the basic sock skeleton (aka the Mr. Skeleton), I love the idea and it seems pretty easy to sew too. I always wanted to sew a sock doll after seeing Brenda’s guest tutorial on the sock kitty. This sock skeleton is the prefect one for me to try out at this moment, in preparing for the upcoming Halloween.

So, there I was, cast my first trial, it was really an easy-peasy job. I got it done pretty fast even though it was just my first try (the video in Martha’s site was really awesome, thanks Martha!!!). I was overjoyed and couldn’t wait to share it, so I took a quick photo and shared it in my facebook page. On the very fist glimpse, I can feel that Mr. Skeleton was so lonely sitting on the ladder by himself… oh poor guy…. that’s where I got the idea to make a companion for him, Mrs. Skeleton Get the tutorial and how to …

By the way, before jumping to the how-to, I have a story to tell…. There was an eerie thing during the process of sewing Mrs. Skeleton… no, no, she didn’t stand up, walk or dance in the middle of the night when I left her in my craft room, LOL!!! Do you think she looks similar to the late “King Of Pop” who debuted his famous moonwalk dance? No? imagine again if her hair is black…. eweee…. I intended to sew her a black hair, but I changed it to orangy brown because it really chilled me out, also, I don’t want her to look like my favorite pop idol, he is a “HE” not a “SHE”!

Materials:
Main Body
1. A pair of plain White Athletic Sock
2. Black felt
3. White buttons, 4 holes (about 1/2″, 2 pcs.)
4. Black buttons, 4 holes (smaller than white, 2 pcs.)
5. Embroidery Floss, black and red
6. Poly-fill or kapok
Hair
7. Brown yarn
8. Cardboard (8″ x 6″)
9. Masking tape
10. Tracing (thin) paper
Dress
11. Fat Eighth Fabric
12. Ribbon
13. 1/4″ elastic band

Tools:
1. Sewing Machine
2. Coordinating color sewing threads
3. Sewing and tapestry needles
4. Shear
5. Pins
6. Ruler & pencil
7. Fabric marker

Sew Body

Read and get the instruction & printout of sewing the male skeleton from Martha Stewart website.
I followed everything told in the instructions for Mr. Skeleton, but alter a little for Mrs. Skeleton’s body.
Prepare the above materials and tools.

Follow the instruction to sew the body, legs and arms of the skeleton. Remember to turn the socks inside out and sew on the wrong side.

Cut along the cutting lines for the body and limbs. Turn the socks right side out. For the body, turn it right-side out from the small hole between the body and the upper legs. Turn slowly and don’t over stretch the sock’s knits at the opening.
Stuff with poly-fill or kapok until firm. Stitch up all openings.
Set aside.

Sew Doll Hair

Cut cardboard to 8″ x 6″, mark the center line and 4″ width lines.
Tuck the yarn near the center line with masking tape. Wind along the 8″ length until you are satisfy with the hair thickness for your Mrs. Skeleton. I made about 3-4 layers of windings. Tuck the yarn end and cut. This is the back of the cardboard with windings of yarns.
Turn to front. Slide a small piece of tracing paper between the yarns and the cardboard.
Place the masking tape on top of them, press to make the yarns stick to it. Make sure the yarn didn’t go beyond the 4″ limit.
Turn to back and cut the yarn apart at the center line. Take the cardboard away. Smooth out the hair which is still sandwich between the masking tape and tracing paper.
Use the closest thread color to the hair, machine sew along the center line with small stitch length. I used slightly less than 1 (out of 4) on my Singer sewing machine.
Carefully tear away the masking tape. Do it slowly to avoid tearing away and spoiling the yarn.
Rip away the tracing paper too.

Assembly

Now you have the half done body and the hair. Cut 2 circles (slightly bigger than the white button) from black felt.
Use a few strands of white threads, wrap a few rounds and strangle on the neckline of the doll, tie firmly. Hey! she has a head now
Sew the limbs to the body.

Sew the black felt circles to the face with blanket stitch, then stack the combi of white and black button and sew onto it. Sew the eye lashes.
Make a stitch on one side of the cheek, penetrate the needle from the cheek into the head to the other side of the cheek, pull and tug to create a deep “dimple” on the cheek. Repeat the same to the other cheek.
Sew the lips with red embroidery floss (6 strands) from dimple to dimple. Dab a small dot of glue to set the placement of the lip’s shape.
Sew ribs as per instruction in Martha’s site.

Fold a small portion (about 1/2″) of the hair inwards in order to make the forehead hair a little thicker.
Place the hair on the doll head.
Pin it in place.

Sew with back stitch along the machine-sewn line with the same yarn.

This is how it looks after finish sewing the hair to the head.

Tuck a few stitches near the ear area to hold some of the hair in place to the side.
Brush some red/pink blush on her cheek.

Almost done! Just need to sew a dress for her to wear, she cant go naked, right?

Sew Dress

Cut 4 triangles. Place 2 pieces right side together, sew the 2 slant sides, turn right side out from the base. Press. Fold the base seam allowances into the triangle and top-stitch around. Repeat the same for another triangle.
Cut 2 lengths of 8″ (shoulder straps) and 1 length of 10″ (under-bust strap) ribbon. Sew the triangles to the shoulder and under-bust straps respectively.
Cut a 4″ x 18″ rectangle fabric for the skirt. Join at the 4″ edge. Fold 1/4″ at the bottom hem and sew. Fold 1/2″ top hem and sew, leave an 1″ opening for elastic band entry. Join the band and close the opening.

Put on the dress and if you can find some spider buttons, sew them onto her tummy and thigh. I just love her spider tattoo!
Hi!!! Mrs. Skeleton!!!

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Sewing Tutorial: Make Puffer Fish From Chenille Mitten

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Difficulty Level: Intermediate

Finished Dimension: 6″ (W) x 7″ (L) x 5″ (H)

Material:
1. Microfiber Chenille Mitt
2. Fabric, about 14″ (W) x 7″ (H)
3. Felt (Black & White)
4. Polyester Cord, 1/4″ Ø, 5 1/2″
5. Elastic Cord
6. Ribbon
7. Poly-fill
8. Strong thread
9. Long sewing needle, prefer at least 2″ long

Cut fabric to 4″ square for tail, 2 pcs. of 3″ square for fins, 5 1/2″ x 1 1/2″ 45° diagonal for mouth.
Cut black felt 2 pcs. of 3″Ø, 2 pcs.of 7/8″Ø.
Cut white felt 2 pcs. of 1 1/8″Ø and 6 small circles ( I used leather hole puncher to punch the small circles).

EYES

Place white circle felt onto the center of the 3″ black felt, zigzag sew the circumference with sewing machine. If you hand sew, use blanket stitch.
Then, place the 7/8″ black felt onto them, sew as previous.
Patch and stitch the small white circles onto them.

Run stitch at the circumference of the black felt. Tug and pull to gather.
Stuff poly-fill into it and tighten up.
Darn a few more stitches across the opening to close it better.

This is the eye ball of the puffer fish. Repeat the same for another eye ball.

Trim off some chenilles from the corner of the mitten. Remove the residue. This is the socket of the eye ball.
Check the amount needed to trim off by placing the eye ball into it.
Repeat the same to the other side.

Push the corner of the mitten inward to create a socket and place the eye ball into it. Pin to dock the placement.
Slip stitch the eye ball to the socket. Sew near to the white edge of the eye ball. Remove pin.
Repeat the same to the other side.
Set aside.

FINS & TAILS

Fold the fin fabric into half with right side facing each other.
Sew with 1/4″ seam allowance and leave 1″ opening for turning right-side out.
Turn the fin right-side out and press. Stitch to mend the opening.
Repeat the same for the other fin and tail.

Run stitch near the edge, tug to gather the fabric to about 1″ wide.
Set aside.

MOUTH

Align the slant edge of the mouth fabric, in right angle to each other and sew with 1/4″ seam allowance.

Turn and press the seam flat. Press one of the raw edge 1/4″ inward.

Baste the polyester cord at the non-press raw edge. Trim off excess cord.

Fold the fabric to wrap around the cord and slip stitch along.

Trim off a column or 2 of chenilles at the center between the 2 eyes. Slip stitch the mouth to the face.
Stuff poly-fill from the wrist of the mitten, not too full but full enough to inflate the mitten. You will find that your fish is not round… yet! Don’t freak out!!! The following steps are the secret to make it round without any trimming.

ASSEMBLY

To make the fish rounder, you need to shorten the length of the sides.
Use double strong thread and make a big knot. Make a stitch at the the side, about 1 1/4″ from the edge of the eye, stitch again at 1 1/2″ from the fist stitch, then back to the first stitch. Squeeze the stuffed mitten a little to bring the 2 points closer to each other before pulling the thread to bring them together. The reason I squeeze the mitten before pulling the thread is because the mitten fabric is a loose woven type, pulling without squeezing might rip off the mitten’s fabric.

Make a few more stitches around it to further secure the tug. Knot and hide the thread end.

Sew to attach the fin at the tug site. Repeat the same to the other side.

Stuff the mitten more to make it fuller. Trim off the elastic wrist band and leave only about 1″ behind.
Run stitch around and pull to gather to close the opening. Darn a few stitches to fasten it further.

Sew the tail to the back to cover all the stitches.
Your puffer fish is done.
Lastly, find the center point of the puffer fish and sew the elastic cord to it, then decorate it with a ribbon.
Enjoy!!!
Tip: Pinch the top of the puffer fish to find the balancing point of the puffer fish to sew the hanging cord.

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Sewing: Owl Key Chain Holder {Pattern & Tutorial}

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This keychain holder is one of my best selling handmade in the recent charity sales, just like the pencil holder, they were all sold out during the pre-sale. Hope you like it and sew one soon. Please share your handmade photos in the Facebook page.

Recently, I found a word call “Zakka” which derived from the Japanese “zak-ka” （雑貨） that means “many things”. Wikipedia quoted that “Zakka refers to everything and anything that improves your home, life and appearance”.  Well, aren’t we who handmade little on this and that called zakka too? If you google “Zakka image” then look at the piggy pillow, turtle pincushion, pom-pom’s, bags & purses , this owl keychain holder & many more that I have created, compare them, you will relate Are you one of the Zakka crafters too?

Don’t worry about being zakka or not, as long as we are happy with what we are making and keep on improving it, we are progressing everyday!!!

Let’s get the pattern which was co-designed with my sister Estee, and the step-by-step instruction on how to sew it after the jump.

Happy sewing!!!!

Difficulty Level: Intermediate

Dimension: 3 1/4″ (W) x 5 1/4″ (H)

Material
1. Printed Fabric 5″ x 8″
2. Lining 5″ x 8″
3. Beige fabric 3″ x 3″
4. Felt: White, Beige, Dark Brown & Green
5. Cotton cord, 10″
6. Key Ring
7. Black button, 3/8″, 2 pcs.
8. Fusible web, eg. heat ‘n bond
9. Matching sewing threads

Print the pdf pattern in letter size paper. To get the actual size, select “none” for the page scaling or uncheck the box of the “scale to printable area”, depend on which printer you are using.

Cut the fabric and the felt based on pattern layout and get all the materials ready.
Remark: don’t forget to leave a 1/4″ seam allowance for the fabric.

Place lining to the body fabric with right side facing, sew around but leave an 1 1/2″ opening on the side for turning over.
Clip curve near to sewing line, be careful not to snip the stitches.
Tip: Keep the seam allowance to the minimum at the ears so that you can turn better.
After turning right-side out, it will look like the one on the top.
Now, you have 2 sets of identical owl bodies.

Heat fuse one side of the fusible web to the owl’s belly and facial features.
Peel the paper backing and heat fuse them to the respective positions on one of the owl body.

Sew the black buttons to the eyes. Try to keep the knots and sewing threads behind as little as possible for neater finishing. Anyway, if you can’t, don’t worry, one can hardly see the inside after you attach the back of the owl body.
Align both front and back bodies together with lining facing each other. Topstitch near to the edge, take note on the stitching ends (refer to pattern).

Tie the cotton cord to the key ring, measure the length by placing the cord on top of the owl key holder. Mark.

Slide the ends through the top opening, check the length again. I suggest that only half of the ring expose to the outside, provided you have other reason and want it to be longer.

Sandwich the cord ends with the leaves. Zig Zag stitch to keep them in place.

Slip your keys into the ring, pull the cord to keep the keys cozy in the owl’s belly.

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Quick Craft: Pencil Holder {Tutorial}

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If you happened to find some paper cores or paper tubes from your kitchen, toilet, badminton court, craft room or writing table, please don’t throw them away, … recycle them into these yarn wrapped pencil holder and get back to school!!!!

There are many sources that you can get the paper tube for free, just to point out a few….. from your cling wrap, aluminum foil, or kitchen paper towel in your kitchen; toilet paper roll; shutter cock tube after your badminton match; yarn tube, fabric roll tube found in your craft room; even thermal paper roll of the fax machine!!! Turn the trash into treasure and help mother Earth in reducing the dumping load. I got mine from the raffia yarns I made for the recent crochet straw projects, i.e. beach bag, sun hat and the daisy brooch.

I made them for a recent charity event and all of them were sold during the pre-sale. Many came back to me and asked for more…. so I made a “come back” but in a DIY way. This is so simple to make and if you have the materials on hand, it costs nothing!!!!

Let’s get to the how-to after the jump…..

Materials:
1. Paper Core x 1
2. Thick Cardboard x 1
3. Stash Yarns
4. Stash Felts
5. Masking Tape
6. Craft Glue / PVA Glue / White Glue

Trace the circumference of the tube on the thick cardboard. Cut the circle out.

Attach the circle to the base of the paper tube with masking tape.

Cut a piece of felt and glue it to the base with craft glue.

Leave it for a few minutes or until the felt tack on well to the base before you start to roll the yarn around the tube.

Start gluing the yarn from top. If you find the yarn is a little difficult to attach to the tube, wait until the glue is tacky before wrapping the yarn around. The beginning is always the toughest part to start with for this project.

After wrapping a few rounds, turn the tube upside down and continue wrapping. I found that working from bottom to top is much easier than working from top to bottom.
You may change color of the yarn or just keep to 1 color.

Decorate the pencil holder with embellishment when the yarn is securely affix to the tube.
Wait till everything is dry, place the pencil holder on your desk to keep your stationary in it.
Easy, right?